What advice would your 5-year-old self give you today?

By April BeanePhoto by Aaron Ledesma, communication junior

Pictured: Payton Josetti (left) and Jack Dooley (right).

With the promise of cookies and milk, Marquette students packed in to hear advice from three very spirited panelists — Will Neumann (age 5), Jack Dooley (age 4) and Payton Josetti (age 5).

Their question: What advice would you give to a college student?

Their answers — when they could stop giggling enough to provide them — included things like laugh more (obviously), eat more cake and make good choices. Marquette students put two of the suggestions immediately into action by enjoying cookies (close enough to cake) and catching the uncontrollable giggles being spread throughout the room.

The Office of Student Development sponsored the event as part of its Big Questions series, which aims to engage students in deeper conversations about the human experience.

After the giggle therapy, students were asked in groups to reflect on what advice their 5-year-old self would give them today. What did they get lost in? What did they enjoy doing most?

According to Kate Trevey, Bus Ad ’04, assistant dean for leadership and vocation programs, what captivated us as children can provide clues to what future paths we should follow — particularly for college students trying to uncover what will lead to a fulfilling life.

The students’ answers included: Play with more Power Rangers, always give 110 percent, don’t care so much about what other people think, carry enthusiasm to everything you do, be more imaginative, let go of your fears and don’t judge.

Trevey admits getting students to engage in deeper conversations, like this one, can be difficult, but it is important to their vocational journey. Which is how the Big Questions series originated.

“Real vocational discernment requires a lot of hard work on an individual level,” she says. “But doing that work in the company of other people is an integral part of discovering who we are and who we are meant to be.”